Pro bowlers tour hopes to strike with eight-team format

Nov. 6, 2012
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Chris Paul of the Los Angeles Clippers bowls during his Celebrity Invitational Tournament in Los Angeles in 2010. Paul will be one of the team owners in the new PBA league that begins play in January. / Andrew D. Bernstein, NBAE/Getty Images

by Gary Mihoces, USA TODAY Sports

by Gary Mihoces, USA TODAY Sports

Amateur bowlers roll in leagues, wearing team shirts and rooting on each other's strikes.

The Professional Bowlers Association decided that's a format with appeal to advertisers and fans. NBA star Chris Paul and former NFL running back Jerome Bettis, both avid bowlers, will be among eight celebrity owners in the PBA's new team league for the game's top pros.

Also on the list of owners are former NFL receiver Terrell Owens and comedian/actor Kevin Hart. The nickname hasn't been revealed for Paul's Los Angeles franchise. Bettis will be affiliated with the Motor City Muscle of Detroit, Owens with the Dallas Strikers and Hart with the Philadelphia Hitmen. Four more owners have yet to be named.

"This is exciting for me and the sport of bowling," says the Los Angeles Clippers' Paul, who has hosted his own celebrity tournament. "I love PBA action, have enjoyed getting to know many top bowlers and look forward to my team competing for the first PBA League Elias Cup (named for PBA founder Eddie Elias)."

Inspiration for the league came from a visit PBA CEO Geoff Reiss made in January to the International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame in Arlington, Texas. He was struck by an exhibit about the Budweiser beer team of the late 1950s and 1960s, a traveling squad of the game's greats.

"Budweiser basically put together the equivalent of the 1927 Yankees to barnstorm. I just looked at it and said, 'That's a good idea!'" Reiss says.

He called PBA Tour Commissioner Tom Clark. They talked for an hour about launching a team format. It was off and running. "It has the potential to be a real leap forward for the PBA," Reiss says.

He says the PBA really hadn't had an answer to a key question: What's new with professional bowling?

"Now we're able to say Chris Paul, Kevin Hart, Jerome Bettis and Terrell Owens are new. And the opportunity to build sponsorships is new, and to connect with fans at a totally different level is new," Reiss says.

All four team owners so far are African Americans. Among about 50 players who currently have Touring 1 status on the PBA Tour, none are black, according to Clark. He estimates that among about 240 players competing in the World Series of Bowling, 10 or so are black.

"It's not on purpose that we went out and got African Americans to be owners in this league. We have people that love bowling and have a celebrity status. That's it," Clark says. "But the fact that the first four are (African-Americans) is kind of obvious, and we just see it as a great example of the fact that bowling is popular for everyone.

"Even though the success of our players through history has not included African Americans largely, it is popular among African Americans."

Reiss says the owners won't be required to pay franchise fees. He says they will get a share of any advertising revenue.

"These guys aren't going to be buying any new jet planes off what they make from the PBA, but ultimately they will make money," Reiss says.

The PBA eventually hopes to have 20 teams. Reiss says subsequent owners will have franchise fees. "We're not talking about the L.A. Dodger deal here," he says.

The eight teams in the league will consist of five players each. That includes a "franchise player," already designated for each team from last year's list of the top eight point scorers. Paul's franchise player in Los Angeles is five-time PBA champion Jason Belmonte of Australia.

On Friday, a draft will be held. The franchise players will make the selections to fill each roster.

At a series of PBA individual events beginning in late January, the team members also will begin racking up team points.

Those team points will be used to determine seeding for a series of five team vs. team rounds that will air on ESPN beginning Jan. 27. In each 10-frame game, members of each team will roll alternate frames. They'll wear team shirts. Though Bettis has the Detroit team, its members will wear black and gold, a nod to his Pittsburgh Steeler days.

The top four teams in the standings after those five team rounds will advance to the championship in late March in Indianapolis and aired on ESPN on April 7. Each player on the championship team will win $15,000. Players will also receive season salaries, ranging from $10,000 for a franchise player down to $2,000 for a fifth-round draft pick.

Bettis looks forward to getting started.

"Bowling fans not only get to see me, but they also get to see Mike Fagan and some great team bowling," Bettis says. "PBA fans deserve the best, and this season we will give them the best and a chance to enjoy every moment."